Torah Reading for Toldot

Please note: These Haftarah texts follow Chabad custom. Other communities could possibly read more, less, or a different section of the Prophets altogether. Please consult with your rabbi.

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Malachi Chapter 1

1The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel in the hand of Malachi.

א מַשָּׂ֥א דְבַר־יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל בְּיַ֖ד מַלְאָכִֽי:

The burden of the word of the Lord: Porport in Old French, burden. A word delivered to Malachi to bear to the children of Israel.

in the hand of Malachi: It was already delivered into his hand for many days. From here, our Sages expounded in a baraitha of Mechilta that all the prophets stood on Mount Sinai and there the prophecies were delivered to them, and so [Isaiah (48:16)] says: “From the time it was, there was I, and now, the Lord God has sent me, [and His spirit].”

2I loved you, said the Lord, and you said, "How have You loved us?" Was not Esau a brother to Jacob? says the Lord. And I loved Jacob.

And I hated Esau: to push him off to a land because of Jacob, his brother. Now it is customary in the world that, if one has two sons, he selects a beautiful portion for the firstborn.

and I made his mountains desolate: They do not compare to the mountains of Israel.

for the jackals of the desert: A den of jackals.

4Should Edom say, "We were poor, but we will return and build the ruins"? So said the Lord of Hosts: They shall build, but I will demolish; and they shall be called the border of wickedness and the people whom the Lord has damned forever.

“The Lord is great beyond the border of Israel.”: He will show His greatness over our border, to make known that we are His people. And Jonathan rendered: May the glory of the Lord be magnified, and He has widened the border of Israel.

6A son honors a father, and a slave his master. Now if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My fear? says the Lord of Hosts to you, the priests, who despise My name. But you said, "How have we despised Your Name?"

“How have we defiled You?”: How have we defiled for You the bread of Your altar? I reply to you that, in this manner you have defiled Me.

By your saying, “God’s table is contemptible.”: They would look with contempt on sharing equally the meal offerings and the hallowed foods, and they would say, “Since we may not share a meal offering for a meal offering, or a sacrifice for a sacrifice, it is too much bother and toil to divide each meal offering for the olive- sized piece or the bean-sized piece that is apportioned to each one.”

8When you offer a blind [animal] for a sacrifice, is there nothing wrong? And when you offer a lame or a sick one, is there nothing wrong? Were you to offer it to your governor, would he accept you or would he favor you? says the Lord of Hosts.

And now, will you pray before the Lord?: And now, you priests, who commit this evil, how does it enter your mind that you can be the messengers of Israel, to supplicate God to have compassion on them? Lo, this evil has come from your hand.

Will He favor any of you: to hearken to a prayer from your mouth, and to favor those who sent you?

10O that there were even one among you that would close the doors [of the Temple] and that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain! I have no desire in you, says the Lord of Hosts. Neither will I accept an offering from your hand.

O that there were even one among you that would close the doors: If only a good man would arise among you who would close the doors of My sanctuary so as not to allow this abominable sacrifice there.

and that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain: with fire offerings with which I am not placated, for I have no desire in you. And our Sages expounded in Torath Kohanim (7:154): If a person says to his friend, “Close this door for me,” he does not demand compensation for it; [or if he says,] “Light this candle for me,” he does not request compensation for it. But you - who is there among you who closed My doors, gratis? Neither did you kindle fire on My altar gratis. Surely, things that are customarily done for compensation you did not do gratis. Therefore, I have no desire in you.

11For, from the rising of the sun until its setting, My Name is great among the nations, and everywhere offerings are burnt and offered up to My Name; yea, a pure oblation, for My Name is great among the nations, says the Lord of Hosts.

My Name is great among the nations: Our Sages stated (Men. 110a): For they call Him the God of the gods. Even one who has an idol knows that He is the God Who is over all of them - and everywhere they donate in My Name. Our Sages, however, explained: These are the Torah scholars who are engaged in the laws of the Temple service everywhere, and likewise, every prayer of Israel that they pray anywhere is to Me as a pure oblation. And so did Jonathan paraphrase: And every time that you do My will, I accept your prayer, and My great Name is sanctified through you, and your prayer is like a pure offering before Me. This is the explanation of the verse: Now why do you profane My Name? Is it not great among the nations? As for Me, My love and My affection are upon you wherever you pray before Me, and even in exile, [offerings are] burnt and offered up to My Name.

yea, a pure oblation: it is to Me, for through you My Name is feared among the nations. Yet you profane Me and My Name.

12But you are profaning it by your saying, "The Lord's table is defiled"; and its expression is "Its food is contemptible."

and its expression is “Its food is contemptible.”: The expression of the altar that is fluent on your lips is always, “Its food is contemptible”; that [is all] you say about it. You have already spread this slander, and you have strongly attached this expression to My altar.

its food: its food.

13And you say, "Here is a weary one," and you cause it pain, says the Lord of Hosts. And you brought that which was taken by violence, and the lame and the sick. And you bring an offering-will I accept it from your hand? says the Lord.

And you say, “Here is a weary one”: An emaciated animal, and we are poor and cannot afford the choicest for [our] vows. So did Jonathan render: This is what we have brought from our toil.

and you cause it pain: This is one of the eighteen words [in all of Scripture known as] the emendations of the scribes. וְהִפַּחְתֶּם אוֹתוֹ should have been written: אוֹתִי, and you cause Me pain. Scripture, however, euphemized, writing אוֹתוֹ it.

and you cause pain: and you cause pain, an expression of despair (Job 11:20).

it: My table.

14And cursed is he who deals craftily; although there is a ram in his flock, he vows and sacrifices a blemished one. For I am a great King, says the Lord of Hosts, and My Name is feared among the nations.

he who deals craftily: Plots deceitfully, with guile, before Me, saying, “I have none better than this. ”

a ram: a ram fit for a burnt offering; and he vows and sacrifices a blemished one - as in (Lev. 22:25), “their corruption is in them; a blemish is in them.”

Malachi Chapter 2

1And now, to you is this commandment, O priests.

אוְעַתָּ֗ה אֲלֵיכֶ֛ם הַמִּצְוָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את הַכֹּֽהֲנִֽים:

to you, etc., O priests: I charge you with this commandment, that you shall not sacrifice these on My altar.

2If you do not heed, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My Name, says the Lord of Hosts, I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed I have [already] cursed it, for you do not take it to heart.

and I will curse: And I will curse your blessings; how I should bless the grain, the wine, and the oil for you.

Indeed I have [already] cursed it: Indeed, it is unnecessary to have the matter depend on the condition upon which I made it depend: if they do not obey. For I know that you will not obey. Therefore, I have already cursed it - from now.

3Behold! I rebuke the seed because of you, and I will scatter dung upon your face-the dung of your festive sacrifices, and it shall take you to itself.

and I will scatter dung: of the animals of your festive sacrifices; that is to say, you will not receive reward from Me, but [you will receive a curse] for harm and shame. And I will rebuke the seed of the field because of you.

and it shall take you to itself: The dung of your sacrificial animals will take you to itself to [make you] cheap and despised, as it is.

4And you shall know that I have sent you this commandment, that My covenant be with Levi, says the Lord of Hosts.

In peace and equity he went with Me: Aaron, Eleazar, and Phinehas and so in the episode of the calf, they brought back all their tribe from iniquity, as it is said (Ex. 32:26), “all the children of Levi gathered to him.”

7For a priest's lips shall guard knowledge, and teaching should be sought from his mouth, for he is a messenger of the Lord of Hosts.